With over 60 years in the comic book industry, Marvel Comics has spawned so many stories featuring many superheroes and villains that readers still adore to this day. As a result, Marvel has established certain tropes that have become mainstays in the countless comic book series out there, for better or for worse.
Tropes are not inherently a bad thing in Marvel Comics; there are certain story and character choices that old and new fans alike will smile at. However, there are still tropes from Marvel that quickly make anyone reading shake their head because of how much they are overused, and how much certain scenarios rely on those tropes.
10 Heroes Turn To The Dark Side
While a bit overused, there is an appeal to seeing a lighthearted hero such as Spider-Man wear a black suit and have an edge. In other cases such as Ultimate Reed Richards, heroes have turned into total villains that make Doctor Doom look tame by comparison.
There have been times Marvel has taken the idea too far with Captain America during Secret Empire as a prime example. However, that doesn't overshadow the times Marvel has used it well, from Jean Grey as the Dark Phoenix to the Hulk as the Maestro.
9 Crossover Events That Bring Many Heroes Together
For even Marvel events that disappointed fans like Secret Empire, there are two other beloved events such as Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet that made history. Seeing the likes of Wolverine and Spider-Man team up is fun, but it's a spectacle to see an army of superheroes in massive events.
Even Spider-People have become so numerous that Marvel gave fans Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon that featured Spider-Man variants by the dozens working together to save the multiverse. Sometimes, the events can overstay their welcome, but they are an important part of Marvel's history.
8 Resurrecting Characters
Both Marvel and DC suffer from the overused trope that rarely anybody stays dead in the comics. Feeling more akin to a soap opera, Marvel will create elaborate deaths for a character only for them to come back through plot conveniences such as time travel, magical resurrection, and whatever the writers conjure.
As a result, storylines in Marvel Comics struggle to have any form of stakes because readers figure that whoever dies will just be back. As much as it is painful to see a beloved character die, their death should not just be erased but help the living heroes grow and learn from them.
7 X-Men Comics Hate Cyclops
For whatever reason, Marvel decided to turn Cyclops from the idealistic X-Men leader to the punching bag for writers. If it's not a personal tragedy for Scott Summers such as losing a friend or loved one, the writers turn him into an obsessive lover who loses his significant others or has an ego the size of Galactus.
This hate train that Marvel embarked on even carried over into the early X-Men movies. At one point in the comics, Scott even killed Professor X, and Cyclops no longer even feels like Cyclops.
6 Characters' Names Are Alliterated
Whether it's the comics, animated shows, or live-action movies, anyone is bound to pick up on the alliteration pattern with Marvel names. Peter Parker, Susan Storm, Bruce Banner, Jessica Jones, Stephen Strange, and even the mighty Fin Fang Foom.
This naming trope has become so well known and loved that when some non-Marvel movies have alliterated character names, they even reference Marvel. While not every Marvel character has this pattern, a good portion does.
5 Killing Off Women Just To Motivate The Male Hero
Marvel sadly has not always been great at writing women in their comics; the writers would often succumb to the tired cliché of killing off a love interest just so the hero can be single again to make them edgy. Famous comic book writer Gail Simone coined this trope as "Fridging" based on an infamous DC comic in which Kyle Rayner's wife was stuffed in a refrigerator.
An example would be in a controversial Spider-Man comic when Marvel killed off Anne Weying by having her take her own life even though it was uncharacteristic of her. It was just so Venom could be Spider-Man's enemy again. Other women in Marvel have suffered from this trope and sadly, it still happens too much.
4 Apocalyptic Marvel Futures
Other than exceptions like the 2099 stories, Marvel Comics does not like the idea of classic future portrayals. Instead of cyberpunk cities, flying cars, and hoverboards, most depictions of Marvel's future involve the planet's destruction.
The Old Man Logan and Avengers of the Wasteland comics are famous examples, but there are also X-Men: Days of Future Past, Marvel Zombies, Age of Ultron, and Future Imperfect. All feature a near or distant future in shambles, typically making for a dark and depressing tone.
3 Hero Vs. Hero Battles
As much as Marvel heroes working together is a blast, there is almost always an appeal to seeing a full-on battle between individual heroes or even groups. It has led to some iconic matches including Hulk vs. Wolverine and Captain America vs. Iron Man.
The fight between heroes appeals to the classic schoolyard debates kids would have about who would win in a fight. While some cases haven't always worked such as ruining Captain Marvel's character in Civil War II just so she can fight Iron Man, the trope is still almost always fun to witness.
2 Peter Parker Cannot Have A Healthy Relationship
If Spider-Man is not involved with a toxic partner like Black Cat, Marvel is obsessed with splitting him apart from better lovers like Gwen Stacy, Kitty Pryde, and Mary Jane Watson. Even certain eras of Spider-Man comics depict the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane to be far from healthy.
Other times, the women in Peter's life are victims of supervillains. It's meant to show how dangerous Peter Parker's life really is, but after a while, Peter deserves to just be happy, but Marvel doesn't seem to want that. Even in 2023, Marvel retconned Peter's relationship with Mary Jane again by ridiculously saying he views her more as a sister and a friend.
1 Badass Women Successors
While there are unique women in Marvel Comics such as the Invisible Woman and Black Widow, others end up being variants or successors of another hero. For example, the Hawkeye mantle was passed from Clint Barton to Kate Bishop who has become just as good as he was, if not better.
There is Spider-Gwen who became her Earth's spider-related hero and Jane Foster became the Mighty Thor. There are many other iconic women including She-Hulk, Rescue, Shuri, and even Captain Marvel inherited the title from Mar-Vell. All these women have made an impact on the Marvel universe.